December 1066 · Southern England Theater
December 1066
After Hastings, William did not march straight on London but ravaged the southeast, circling the city to cut it off and burning Southwark. The remaining English leaders had proclaimed the boy Edgar the Ætheling king, but with their armies destroyed and the country devastated, their will collapsed. They submitted to William at Berkhamsted, and on Christmas Day 1066 he was crowned in Westminster Abbey — the ceremony marred when nervous Norman guards, mishearing the crowd's acclamation, set fire to nearby houses.
Commanders